Devils 3, Lightning 2 - Devils host Senators

This one was fun to watch, as it was actually on TV.

Although he let in two goals as opposed to shutting them out, Brodeur was the man in this game. Sure, Gionta got two goals and huge ones at that. But Brodeur made the difference and should have been the first star of the game, stopping 32 of 34 shots. He was dang good. Richards had his number, twice turning 2-goal leads into a single goal difference, both times on the power play. That is one aspect that the Devils will have to clean up. They took way too many penalties, and it cost them twice in this game and it could have been even more times, but thankfully that was all they were allowed. Still, this is a problem area. A lot of the time they were just skating around and poking at pucks instead of attacking the puck or at least the puck-carrier. Way too much time spent in the Devils zone.

As for the positive things, the Devils got a lot of rushes. They were content to play in their zone or in neutral ice, but recognized when they had the opportunity and took advantage of it. Elias had a nice pass to Gionta and Gionta was able to rip it past Holmqvist. Looked like a basic shot, but Holmqvist didn't square it up and he paid the price. That was a power play goal, as was the next one as Rafalski slammed one in there at the beginning of the 2nd period to make it 2-0. Richards came back with a goal. Then Gionta got his second one of the day on an extremely easy play. He and Elias were in front of the net and Kuba crashed into Holmqvist while Gionta was plenty patient with the puck, finally putting it past the goalie when he had no chance to stop it. Richards then got another power play goal and that was it for the scoring. No scoring in the third period, but still intense action. The Devils actually looked better at the end of the game when Tampa pulled the goalie. That was pretty weird. But they were able to control the final few minutes and celebrated the moving on to the Eastern Semis to face the Ottawa Senators.

It's weird because I watched the game, and I've hardly seen any Devils games this year, and I don't have much to write about. It was cool. It was very nerve-wracking at the end of the game, when I was waiting for the inevitable tie game because the Lightning always get 3 goals. But not this time. 12 goals the first 4 games, and 2 goals the next 2.

A winnable, but hard series is coming up with Ottawa. Due to re-seeding, the #1 Sabres will face the #6 Rangers while the #2 Devils will face the #4 Senators. I was very nervous about this series with Tampa Bay and their offense, but the Devils were able to roll off 3 straight wins and they looked decent at times and very good at other times. I am particularly glad to see Brodeur back on top of things, he seems to be in the zone. Ottawa has a very capable offense as well and a goalie who doesn't mind dropping the gloves and decking somebody in the face. Should be a good series. Rock on.